Solo Scot

My grandmother said her ancestors came from Scotland, but the truth is, most came from England. On the 1870 Canadian Census forms, ones origin (meaning ancestry) was declared, and almost all of my many Nova Scotia families listed themselves as English. One exception was the Ralstons. They were described as Scotch. Perhaps my grandmother was from a matriarchal family, culturally.

Home of the Colburns

Clinton Colburn left this home in Collingwood Corner, Nova Scotia, in 1894 with his neighbor Alberta Ripley and started a new life in America. They were both 21 and yet unmarried. My great-great grandparents Alex and Kitty (Wethered) Colburn raised Clinton and his nine siblings here — half of whom moved far away. Clinton emigrated

Ripleys, Believe It or Not

I was looking for Ripleys, believe it or not. A day earlier, on a tour of the neighborhood with a couple of kind locals — including 93-year-old Lloyd Weatherbee, a distant relative — I was shown all the houses along the rural road that were at one time associated with Ripleys. The next day, I

Abandoned

In 1784, Richard Colburn was granted 200 acres around here in North Wallace, Nova Scotia — compensation for his military service at Fort Cumberland, New Brunswick. Back then, this area was called Remsheg, and Richard, who was a 4th great-grandfather of mine, had served as a private for the Royal Fencible American Regiment. There were

A Shock from Fort Cumberland

The iconic facade of King’s Chapel in Boston is hidden now under construction tarps. All you can see is a rainbow flag and a Black Lives Matter banner. The view is better from the Old Burial Ground next door—the oldest cemetery in Boston. It was here that I came, soon after I found the upsetting